Zell's First Birthday Party
by Strategos
Summary: This is one of the famous "Zell's First..."stories, which me and Raine brainstorm together. This is the first one I'm writing. It's sorta long, but Rainey says it's SUPAH coot! Plz R&R, and I will give you a cracker!!!!


Zell's First Birthday Party  
  
By everyone's favourite cracker loving idiot, Dark Angele  
Staring both DA and Raine Ishida- we both worked on the idea.  
This is dedicated to both Rainey and Sei.  
Enjoy.  
  
  
  
  
  
Zell looked up at Matron, smiling happily. " Really?" he asked, hope shining in his big, bright eyes.  
Edea nodded, patting the boy on the head. " Yes, Zell, you can have a Birthday Party, and you can invite anyone you like."  
"Can I choose what type of cake we have? And what we eat?"  
Matron nodded again, a gentle smile spreading across her face. " Of course."  
The eager boy clapped his hands, paused, then stared up at Matron again. "Anything?"  
"Yes, Zell. Anything."  
Zell curled his fist and stuck his thumb in his mouth, closing one eye to think. He removed the soggy thumb and smiled. " Can I have hot dogs? And chocolate cake, with lots of icing, and popcorn too?"  
"Yes, Zell, you can have hot dogs, and chocolate cake with lots of icing on it. You can even decorate it yourself, if you wanted to. Or you could get the other children to do it for you. I'm sure they wouldn't mind."  
Zell's bright smile widened. "And it can have five blue candles on it?"  
Edea smirked. "Sure."  
The tiny boy wagged his finger up at Matron, as if to reprimand her. "Hey! You forgot the popcorn! Can I have that too?"  
Edea sighed, thinking on how this would affect her bill. But she shook it away. It was Zell's BIRTHDAY. This was special. "I'll think about it." She told him, even though she knew that in the end, he would have his popcorn.  
The boy jumped up and down with excitement, apparently ignoring the last comment. "ALRIGHT! Wait 'till I tell everybody! YAY!"  
Matron couldn't help but chuckle as the boy left the room, punching the air in excitement as he went.  
  
*  
  
" A BIRTHDAY party? For Chicken Wuss? Heh...this ought be interesting!" Seifer spat, putting down his magnifying glass upon the anthill he was sitting in front of.  
"Whoo! What did you call me?!" Zell tensed up, starting to punch the air in an aggravated fashion.  
Seifer smirked, looking at little Zell before picking up his tool again. "Chicken Wuss."  
Selphie looked up from her side of the sandbox, glaring at Seifer accusingly. "Why do you have to be so mean to him? Even on his Birthday, Seifer? You're so mean!"  
He smirked, now focusing his lens on the ants swarming around the hill...burn, baby, burn... He had heard that somewhere once. Not that he knew what it meant; it was just cool, that's all.  
His grin widened as the black bodies of the ants crisped, curling, and burning before him. However, Seifer was thrown out of his trance when a fistful of sand was thrown at him.  
"Are you even listening to me, Seifer? Huh?" Sselphie threw another fist, angry that the bully wasn't paying attention.  
The young bully clutched at his eyes, tears falling from them. "OW! You threw sand in my eyes. Just wait until I tell Matron! Just you wait, Selphie!" he ran towards the house, off to tell Matron about what Selphie had done to him.  
A happy laugh sounded around the area, and little Selphie and Zell started looking around, eager to find the source of the voice.  
"Nice one." Angele grinned, walking up to them, from the slide. An eager Raine followed after her, clutching a cute little teddy bear in her hands.  
"Hi!" Raine offered to the two other children, smiling and sitting down in the sandbox.  
"Hi!" both of Matron's orphans smiled, making room for the two girls to sit down with them.  
Angele took a spot beside Zell, and Raine sat in between Selphie and Angele, placing the stuffed bear beside her lovingly.  
"So, how long have you two been here?" Selphie asked, curious to know how long they actually were watching.  
Raine opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a happy voice. "Not long. We got here about a few minutes ago, and we were at the top of the slide, seen you guys, and watched." Angele paused, and giggled. "I don't think that stupid kid even saw what was coming to him."  
"He looked super surprised when you threw that sand at him." Raine added.  
Zell, not being one to be quiet for long, burst out in a singsong voice. "I know something you don't know!"  
Angele made a happy gurgling noise. "TELL!"  
He smiled, glad to get some attention. "Guess."  
Angele stuck the tip of her tongue out of the left corner of her mouth, thinking hard. "Ummmm... You had hot dogs for lunch today?"  
"NO! Better than that!"  
Raine tried her guess while Angele was busy mumbling to herself, 'What could be better than hot dogs?'. Raine ignored the mumbling, pausing before she spoke. "Uhhhh...Seifer's being adopted, so you won't EVER have to see him again?"  
Zell giggled. "No, silly! Even better...well...not better than that, but still pretty good!"  
Angele shrugged. "We give up."  
"Me too." Raine added, also stumped.  
Zell grinned proudly. "I'm havin' a birthday party!" he punched at the air, excitedly. He stopped. "You guys are invited!" he added as an after thought.  
"COOL!" Angele grinned, standing up and grabbing Raine. "Come on! Let's go get some sort of presents! We have A LOT to do! Come on!"  
Raine followed (well, was sorta dragged) after Angele, turning to say, "Bye, guys! See you at the party!" then she turned and was gone, pulled by an eager Angele.  
All was silent in the park for a little while, before Selphie started giggling. "You know what, Zell?"  
He frowned. "What?"  
"They don't even know what time the party is at!"  
  
*  
  
On the late morning of the party, Zell woke up, stretching his arms out and yawning. "Happy Birthday to me!" he smiled.  
Everything was really nice that morning. Little Quistis and Selphie sang Happy Birthday to him at the table, and with a little coaxing, got Irvine to join in as well, although he wasn't as nearly as enthusiastic.  
They couldn't get Squall to sing, but he his lips curled into a rare grin when the songs began. "Happy Birthday." He added, when the song was done.  
At exactly 4 PM, the doorbell rang, and soon, Zell's guests arrived, carrying an assortment of packages.  
Angele was the first to arrive, with Raine at her heels. When Angele dragged in a new girl, a girl with big blue eyes and an evil grin, Angele introduced her as "My friend, Wolfy."  
The party started, and first, the kids sat themselves in front of the T.V. to watch a movie.  
Little Raine and Seifer were busy arguing over what they should watch. Seifer wanted to watch Star Wars but Raine protested and said that Titan AE was much better. Besides, it had a "kick-butt alien with guns" as Angele so put it.  
In the end, a triumphant Raine popped in the video, and scampered to her spot beside Angele.  
Selphie and Irvine sat on the couch, with the happy-go-lucky Wolfy in-between, (who immediately took Irvine's cowboy hat which he refused to take off) ,even though Halloween was over), Raine and Zell sat at the other's feet, with Angele in between the two, and Seifer sitting in the far corner of the room, pouting because he didn't get to watch his movie.  
The movie fascinated the children, and when it was finished, even Seifer liked it. Angele grinned proudly. "I told ya so. Raine knows what type of movies ta watch."  
The children gathered around the table at dinner, eating to their fill of hot dogs. They even held a contest to see who could eat the most.  
Selphie finished in last, with a single hot dog, then Seifer with two, Irvine could handle three, and so could Wolfy. Quistis had one and a half hotdogs, Raine surprisingly, polished off four, and Angele couldn't eat more than that either. That left Zell, the winner (of course) with several of them.  
During the meal, Angele smirked, looking over to Seifer. She leaned towards Raine, whispering to Raine an evil plot she had hatching within that evil brain of hers.  
Soon, Raine was grinning, and then Wolfy was let in on the secret. The three smiled at Seifer, all sharing the same 'ha-ha, I rule and you don't' grins upon their faces.  
Angele reached for the ketchup, squirting some onto her unfinished hot dog, holding the bottle after she had dressed her dog.  
Soon Raine had the mustard, and Wolfy had the Relish. Angele handed the bottle of Squeeze Cheese to Zell, and whispered, "Get him."  
This resulted in a scared Seifer, running around the backyard while the four children chased after him, squirting him now and then.  
Soon, the others were in there too. Irvine with the whipped cream, and Selphie with the Hot Sauce.  
Quistis felt the whole idea was silly, and she, being the responsible one, sat out, watching the other kids messing up the backyard, helping herself to the popcorn.  
  
*  
  
The cake event was much less without the fuss, and the kids gathered in the dining room for such an event to take place.  
The room darkened, and Matron came out holding a platter with a big, giant, smiling happy face made of yellow icing and brown chocolate.  
After the usual, "Happy Birthday", came the blowing out of candles.  
Little Zell closed his big baby blues tightly, clenching his teeth and wishing hard, then smiled and blew out all five of the candles.  
His smile grew bigger and lit up when Matron handed him the very first piece of cake.   
She smiled softly, giving him a clean fork. "For the Birthday Boy." she murmered, before cutting the pieces for the rest of the children.  
When she finished that, she crouched down beside Zell, and whispered to him. "Aren't you going to tell me what you wish for?"  
He shook his head, stuffing a piece of cake in his mouth. "Not yet."  
  
*  
  
Next, came the best part of the whole entire evening.  
The presents.  
Little Zell's eyes lit up when he saw the pile of presents stacked up for him. He whispered in awe. "All for me?"  
Matron nodded, crouching down beside him. "All for you."  
He looked up at Matron. "Which one do I open first?"  
She smiled, going to sit in her chair, ready to watch the festivities. "Any one you want."  
He nodded, picking up a mall box, wrapped in green and yellow paper He read the tag and noted it was from Matron and the other children.  
Slowly, taking his precious time, he unwrapped the parcel, and a big smile appeared on his face when he saw what it was.  
"Alright! A remote control race car! Ooh yeah! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he smiled, giving a big hug to each of the children (even Seifer) and to Edea.  
He opened the other gifts, and smiled at the receiving of each one. He had separate gifts, other than that. He received a little stuffed lion (that squeaked when you squeezed it) from Quistis and Selphie, a bunch of candies from Matron, a cap gun from Irvine and Squall, and a reluctant hug (and a yo-yo) from Seifer.  
The other presents he received were just as good. He got 50 gil from Raine, a pretty picture from Wolfy, and a train set from Angele, who was occupied with pretend shooting Seifer with the pistol, who rolled his eyes and shook his head.  
Before they all knew it, the party was over; Zell yawned as his guests left, giving each one a weary smile and a hug before they went.  
  
*  
  
Little Zell was up long past after the others drifted off to sleep. He clutched his lion, making it squeak, giggling whenever it did.  
Matron poked her head through the door, walking inside the room and sitting beside Zell on the bed. "You're not asleep. Stop pretending."  
He giggled again, smiling up at her. "But I'm going to sleep."  
She kissed his forehead, giving him a light hug. "You do that."  
He peered up at her, sleep in his eyes. "Matron?"  
She paused, leaning towards him. "Yes?"  
Zell smiled, whispering. "I'm ready to tell you what I wished for?"  
"And what was that?"  
"I wished," he paused, looking back and forth, making sure nobody could hear. "That every Birthday Party was like this one."  
She grinned softly, pushing a strand of gold from his eyes. "Good Night Zell." She stood up, walking out of the room, closing the door behind her, and leaving the boy to rest so he could dream of his next Birthday Party. 


End file.
